Vicarage of Church of All Saints

Details

MALDON

TL8407SE CHURCH WALK 574-1/6/18 (North side) 24/09/71 Vicarage of Church of All Saints

GV II*

Vicarage. 1449, early C16 and C17, restored 1902. Timber-framed and rendered with some exposed framing and gabled plain tiled roof. Complex plan form with main block of hall with 2 cross-wings type. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys. The front of the west cross-wing has carved barge-boards of 1902 with pomegranates and gable framing exposed with arched down-braces from the crown post. The tie beam has moulded soffit and an early C20 square oriel has 3 large brackets and flat lead roof. The 3-light casement window of this as other contemporary windows on front are of hardwood with square fixed lights above transom with leaded glazing. The exposed 1st-floor framing has double wall bracing. The ground floor is jettied with original brackets and square oriel of 4 lights as above. Rendered and truncated old stack on west flank. The 2-storey hall block has exposed framing with 2 major wall posts framing a probable window opening. The 1st floor has one 1902 window of 2 lights and similar 3-light window linked by a 2-light ovolo-mullioned leaded window with wrought-iron subsidiary mullions. Also one similar window now as cross-mullioned. The ground floor has an ovolo-mullioned 2-light window, either side of a 3-light casement of 1902. Gabled projecting porch of 1902 with ornamental barge-boards with grape pattern and front posts with attached shafts with moulded bases and capitals. Recessed arched door head with carved and dated (1902) spandrels and door of multi-studded battens with rectangular fanlight over. The east gable has moulded and carved barge-boards of 1902 with grape pattern and of 45 degree pitch. The gable framing is exposed with ogee-curved down-braces to crown post. The exposed tie beam has a moulded soffit. 1st floor has exposed frame and single wall braces to corner posts and 3-light 1902 flush casement as others. The jetty is exposed but with modern fascia over framed and moulded jetty bressumer. One jetty bracket of mid-C17 character remains. Ground floor has square 4-light oriel as others and 2-light c1600 ovolo-mullioned window with leaded glazing. The eastern cross-wing has 2 late, 2-storeyed extensions on its east flank. These have parallel plain tile, gabled roofs, at right-angles to the cross-wing ridge. The southernmost of

these has painted decorative tiling and a plain 2-light casement on its south wall at 1st-floor level. Other walls are rendered and 12-pane sash window at 1st floor on east elevation. Larger extension behind projects further and has exposed brick and pantile-roofed lean-to extension on its east wall. The ground floor has 16-pane sash windows and C20 casement over. T-shaped stack in valley between extensions. The rear of the west wing is hipped with a gablet and there is a gabled stair tower adjoining. INTERIOR: the west cross-wing is a high quality, 2-bay structure with unjowled posts and with a single chamber on each floor. Floor joists with centre tenons and soffit shoulders. The ground floor front wall shows evidence for further double wall bracing and a square oriel window. Fireplaces to west flank, that to the upper floor having a stone late medieval surround. It is suggested that the original stack position was in the rear bay of this flank where there is a substantial gap in the framing and a probable window opening adjoining. The rear wall of this structure has vertically aligned door openings on each floor, that to the ground floor with an arched head. Presumably one or both of these gave access to a stair but this area was altered in the late C17 (painted date on wall) to provide an additional rear bay. The east wall has elaborate curved wall bracing exposed within the later hall. A crown-post roof substantially survives of cross-quadrate form over the central tie beams. The inside face of the east wall has traces of wall painting of vertical red and white stripes and the sacred monogram IHC in white on a red stripe with foliage ornament. Clover leaf motifs, white on the red stripes and black on the white stripes represent The Holy Trinity. The east cross-wing is of 3 bays with originally a single bay room on each floor in the front, and larger 2-bay chamber to the rear. A staircase in the front bay, gave access to the 1st floor, perhaps via a door in the front elevation. The general arrangement is that of a service wing with evidence for a pair of service doors into the hall to the west. The front ground-floor wall suggests a square, off-centre oriel and the jetty bressumer is fully framed. The roof has simple crown posts with thin longitudinal braces and a collar is continued to form a collar purlin over the hall. General construction suggests an early to mid-C16 date although there are some contradictory features. The east wall of the central bay has a contemporary stone fireplace, on the ground floor with side arched head and attached shafts. The present hall consists of 2 superimposed chambers, the wall posts arranged to carry 2 tie beams to define a narrow central bay. This may be contemporary with the east cross-wing, but

the lambs-tongue stopped chamfers and general construction suggests a late C16 date. To the rear of the hall is a late C18 staircase with shaped tread ends and stick balusters. At its head, a short length of similar handrail acts as a kind of gallery. The entrance passage to the main block and elsewhere inside are areas of C17 panelling. HISTORY: it seems probable that the west cross-wing represents a chantry priesthouse of c1449 provided under the Will of Sir Robert D'Arcy of Maldon (1385-1448). Daily mass was to be celebrated at the altar of The Holy Trinity of All Saints Church, explaining the subject matter the basis of the surviving wall paintings. It has been suggested that this cross-wing represents the complete house but the elaborate bracing of the east flank, together with its unweathered state could suggest a parlour/solar to a contemporary or pre-existing open hall. However, some Essex priests' houses were certainly of a 3-bay cross-wing format. (RCHME: Essex Central and South-west: London: 1921-: 173:4; Journal of the Society for Medieval Archaeology: XIX: London: 1975-: 213-19; Wadhams: 1975-).

Listing NGR: TL8496407114

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

464251

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
An Inventory of Essex Central and South West, (1921), 173
Medieval Archaeology in Medieval Archaeology, Vol. 19, (1975), 213-19

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